Gunmen Abduct 20 in Philippines
Gunmen abducted about 20 people, including two Americans, at a resort in the Philippines today, the country’s military chief said.
The crime occurred at the Dos Palmas Island Resort at Honda Bay in Palawan province, about 375 miles southwest of Manila, police said.
Military officials said about 20 unidentified men in ski masks took two Americans, a Spaniard, 13 ethnic Chinese Filipino tourists and four resort staffers at gunpoint and fled aboard a motorboat. At least one child was among those abducted, they said.
“We are now scouring the islands,” Philippine military chief Diomedio Villanueva said before heading to Palawan island to lead rescue efforts. He said the Americans were a couple who had an address in the Manila area.
Capt. Djo Jalandoni, with the military’s western command, said the abductors might have been headed to Jolo island, where the Islamic rebel group Abu Sayyaf is based. Villanueva would not comment on speculation that the rebels were responsible for the abduction.
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